Backing up their oft-repeated statements that the Cape West Coast is definitely an area with great future potential, the Rawson Property Group’s sales team has recently given the go-ahead for a new franchise based at St Helena Bay. This franchise will operate in an area from spanning from Langebaan in the south to Dwarskersbos in the north, concentrating mainly on the St Helena Bay precinct. The area has some 2,500 units in all and the new franchise complements the existing Rawson Property Group franchises operating at Langebaan and Vredenburg.
The new St Helena Bay franchisees are a husband and wife team, Klaus and Maryna Psotta. They live in and will work from the Shelley Point Private Security Village and Golf Estate and they come to the job with exactly the right credentials because Klaus, who initially trained and worked as a research chemist in Pretoria, has previously been employed by the legendary West Coast developer, Gert Joubert, who has initiated and developed both the Golden Mile and Shelley Point developments, and more recently Britannia Beach Estate and St Helena Views. Maryna established, owned and ran the spa at the Shelley Point Hotel, now sold.
Right now, says Klaus Psotta, anyone wanting to get a foothold in St Helena Bay can do so at knock-down prices. There are, he says, some 8,000 vacant plots in the area, all of which are serviced. The plots in some areas can be bought for as little as R100,000, while sea fronting plots can be as much as R2,5 million. Although the houses in the district vary in price from as low as R600,000 for a small Cape cottage near the harbour to R4 million or more in Shelley Point or Britannia Bay, the average price is still around R1 million and many of these units are relatively new.
Klaus Psotta says that the West Coast has always appealed to those looking for a simple, relaxed, quiet lifestyle, possibly with fishing, boating or sailing as their main recreational pursuits. The tranquil St Helena Bay, which has large populations of dolphins and is visited five months a year by whales, is quite possibly the safest boating water in Southern Africa. During spring there is always an influx of visitors to see the wild flowers proliferating in the area, and over the December holiday season almost every unit available for rent is hired out, often at fairly high prices.
The district has several golf courses (at Shelley Point in St Helena Bay, Vredenburg, Velddrif and at Langebaan). Vredenburg is the commercial hub of the area and most of South Africa’s major retail chain stores have premises here.
The West Coast, says Psotta, is particularly attractive to Capetonians wanting to escape wet winters because the rainfall here is one-fifth that of the Cape Peninsula, which is only a two hour drive away.
“Our main challenge is to get people throughout South Africa, and indeed from overseas, to visit and see the area. Once here, many fall in love with the place and very often take steps to acquire homes here,” says Psotta.
